Top 20 Most EXPENSIVE Bottles Of Alcohol in the World

In 2012, Australian wine producer Penfolds released a limited edition ampoule “to celebrate the provenance of truly extraordinary wine.” Only twelve handmade bottles were produced, and each came with their own Certificate of Ownership & Authenticity. But of these twelve, only eleven were sold, with one going to Penfolds’ museum. And should you decide to actually open the bottle, you could contact Penfolds and they would send an employee to host a special opening ceremony just for you! As you can imagine, this type of pomp and circumstance doesn’t come cheap. Each bottle sells for $168,000 Australian, or about $110,000 USD.

Hailing from the Sauternes region of France, Château d’Yquem is a highly esteemed wine known for its high acidity and incredible sweetness. The wine is also praised for its longevity, with some bottles keeping for well over a century. This brings us to Château d’Yquem 1811, which many wine experts consider to be a masterpiece. In July 2011, a connoisseur named Christian Vanneque purchased a bottle of 1811 for $117,000, making it the most expensive bottle of white wine ever purchased. Vanneque planned to place the bottle behind bulletproof glass and put it on display at his Bali restaurant SIP Sunset Grill.

Rémy Martin wished to celebrate the 140th birthday of their cognac Louis XIII, and to do so they made the Black Pearl Anniversary Edition. And it came with quite the hefty price tag of $165,000. Many different things went into the exorbitant price. There was the gorgeous metal decanter, each of which was individually numbered and made via a complex process. There’s the rarity, with fewer than 800 decanters being produced. And finally, there’s the quality of the cognac ingredients, some of which were aged over 100 years. The results were a beautiful piece of art, but a very expensive one.

The Bowmore distillery is one of the oldest in Scotland, having opened on the island of Islay in the late 18th century. In 2011, the company finally cracked into some oak casks that had been sealed for more than half a century, resulting in Bowmore 1957. This is the oldest Islay single malt whisky ever produced, and only twelve bottles were made. Two were placed in the Bowmore archives, and ten were sold through the Bowmore Distillery on Islay. One of these bottles was eventually purchased by an anonymous American for £100,000, or roughly $160,000 at the time of purchase.

Once found in Galway, Ireland, Nun’s Island Distillery was an important local employer, and their single pot still whiskey was sold mainly in the Irish province of Connacht. That said, it was also exported to various locations and found fame when it was sold to the British House of Commons. Unfortunately, the company faced financial hardships in the early 20th century, and the factory was closed in 1908. In 2005, the last surviving bottle of Nun’s Island emerged at auction for €146,000, or about $160,000. What can we say, you have to pay for history.

Everyone knows Johnnie Walker. Their booze is everywhere, and it’s currently the world’s highest-selling Scotch whiskey. We say this to make a point - Johnnie Walker is affordable, and it sells. But they broke from tradition when they made Diamond Jubilee. Produced in 2012, it was made to honor the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. The ingredients themselves were distilled back in 1952, and the whiskey was bottled in a Baccarat crystal decanter capped with a half-carat diamond. Unfortunately, not just anyone could celebrate with Johnnie Walker, as each bottle of their Diamond Jubilee goes for about $200,000.

Described by Time as the “most famous industrial designer in all the Americas,” Karim Rashid collaborated with Bombay to create Revelation. Rashid worked alongside Garrard and Baccarat to make fancy bottles of Bombay Sapphire. According to the company, these are “handmade crystal bottles individually decorated with sapphires and diamonds.” But unlike the traditional look, these specific bottles are shaped like giant blue gemstones. As you can imagine, handcrafted crystal bottles from Karim Rashid, Garrard, and Baccarat do not come cheap. Each piece comes with an exorbitant price tag of $200,000 - a status symbol if we’ve ever seen one.

The small Scottish town of Alness hosts the Dalmore distillery, which opened back in 1839 and sources the local Averon River for its single malt whiskey. In 2011, Dalmore made history when it sold the world’s most expensive bottle of scotch. In 2011, a bottle of Dalmore 62 sold for £125,000, or about $160,000. This was a very special and important occasion, as only twelve bottles of Dalmore 62 were ever produced. Today, these limited edition bottles are valued at well over $200,000, an example of the financial importance of supply and demand at work.

If you want to party like Jay-Z, you’re going to need one of these giant champagne bottles and an even bigger wad of cash. The rapper bought Armand de Brignac in 2014, which has significantly increased demand for the brand. While their gold-painted, 30 liter bottles retail for a mere $65,000, the venue price has run all the way up to $265,000. The champagne has been aged for roughly three decades and there’s obviously more than enough to go around. If you don’t want to go too over-the-top, a regular Armand de Brignac Champagne bottle will only cost about $300. If you think you can handle it, though, this 100-pound bottle possesses the Midas touch.

Tribute to Honour gets its name from the Honours of Scotland, the British Isles’ oldest surviving crown jewels. You can tell from the bottle alone that this blended Scotch whisky, which retails for around $400,000, is fit for royalty. Designed by Stephen Webster of Garrard, the bottle comes complete with 413 black-and-white diamonds and three emblems that symbolize the Scottish crown jewels. It’s what’s on the inside that makes Royal Salute the stuff of legend, however. The whiskies in question come from the Royal Salute Vault and have been aged for no less than 45 years. With only 21 bottles originally produced, this is among the rarest bottles on the planet; just one sip will leave you feeling like a king or queen.

1945 marked the end of an era for Romanée-Conti, as this would be the last year before the historic vineyard was totally uprooted. With the harvest dwindling down to 2.5 hectoliters per hectare, just 600 bottles were produced from their pre-phylloxeric vines. Their 1945 vintage has been nicknamed “unicorn wine” since it’s harder to track down than a mystical creature. And if you do find a bottle, be prepared to fork over somewhere around half a million dollars. In 2018, an anonymous bidder offered $558,000 for the 750ml bottle of Burgundy. This was reportedly the most anyone has ever paid for a bottle of wine at auction. Another bottle was purchased for $496,000 - which is the second highest wine bid ever.

Macallan is known for delivering top-tier single-malt whisky, but they outdid themselves with this elite Scotch. When a bottle is made with the intent of breaking records, you can expect to pay a pretty penny. More specifically, you can expect to pay no less than $460,000! That’s what a bottle sold for at auction in 2010, making it the world’s most expensive whisky. It’s a jaw-dropping price tag, but other sources have priced a bottle at $625,000. Even without the 64-year-old whisky inside, the hand-cut crystal bottle weighs 25 pounds. If you can’t afford to buy one of the four bottles that were made, keep in mind that one entrepreneur paid $64,000 for a single shot. We guess that’s more economical…

Welcome to the seven figures club! This clear brandy was made from borassus flower and aged in Hamilla wood casks for two years. As sweet as Mendis Coconut Brandy may be, one million dollars sounds like a steep price - that is until you consider what came with the bottle when it was first released in 2007. Originally, purchases included a seven-day trip to the Maldives and a tour of The House of Mendis. W. M. Mendis himself would also sign, date, and number the bottle. So basically, it was more like buying a luxury vacation and the bottle was just a fancy souvenir. Since the Mendis website is no longer operating, though, it seems the trip is no longer part of the package.

The bottle for this Scottish vodka is made of glass with a wand of colored crystals running down the center. While the bottle itself is something of a collector’s item, it’s just one of the reasons why Diva Vodka is reportedly priced at up to one million dollars - depending on your gems of choice. Distilling the spirit is a three-step process. To begin, it’s filtered through ice and Nordic birch charcoal, which doesn’t sound especially extravagant. For the third step, however, the product is filtered through sand comprised of precious and semi-precious gemstones. If you’re going to live like a diva, you might as well go all out and drink like one too!

Russo-Baltique is a Russian company that started out manufacturing automobiles and aircrafts, and this history is represented in the design of their vodka bottles, which takes inspiration from luxury cars. Priced at $1.34 million, the top of every bottle is made from pure gold and decked out with diamonds. Russo-Baltique Vodka is primarily marketed to Russian billionaires and was even prominently featured in Season 3 of “House of Cards.” In 2018, a bottle was stolen by a masked man from Cafe 33 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Whoever was behind the theft, we’re willing to wager that he didn’t have a million or so dollars lying around. Or hey, maybe he was just thirsty!

Colombian rum maker Dictador is world-renowned and has won many prestigious accolades, including a gold medal at the World Spirit Awards. The company did something fun with their M-City Golden Cities series, which, unfortunately for us lowly civilians, was invite-only. Those who were invited to the Colombian distillery received a 24-karat gold bottle which was engraved with the map of a city of their choosing. To make the experience complete, the guest helped select an exclusive and personalized blend of rum. Each of these bottles went for approximately $1.5 million, but hey, the experience was certainly worth it!

This Cognac was named after King Henri IV and it’s evident from the bottle’s design that it was made with royalty in mind. After being submerged in 24-Karate gold and platinum, the bottle is encrusted with 6,500 diamonds. As for the actual spirit, it was originally produced in 1776 and aged for over 100 years in oak barrels. Also known as “DNA of all Cognac,” this bottle is most definitely at the top of its class. With a price of a whopping $2 million, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more expensive bottle of Cognac.

Based on their similar bottles, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Henri IV Dudognon Heritage and Pasión Azteca have someone in common: Fernando Altamirano, the CEO of distilling company Tequila Ley. Altamirano has been behind an assortment of ambitious spirits, but ultra-premium Pasión Azteca stands out as the most expensive tequila in the world, with their unique bottle Ley Diamante at $3.5 million. The platinum bottle, which features an engraving from Mexican artist Alejandro Gomez Oropeza, is decorated with 4,100 shimmering diamonds. The tequila inside was made from 100% agave and aged for seven years.

As if the name didn’t already say it all, the motto for this vodka is “It’s good to be the king.” Honestly, if you’re a multi-billionaire, $3.7 million is probably pocket change. For the rest of us, we’ll just have to settle for admiring Billionaire Vodka from afar. Designed by Leon Verres, the five-liter bottle comprised of 3,000 diamonds and Swarovski crystals is truly a sight to behold. Yet, only the wealthiest drinkers can tell you what it tastes like. Billionaire Vodka is a handmade concoction derived from a secret Russian recipe, which is said to consist of pure wheat, crystal clear water, and diamonds. You haven’t hit it big until you ordered a bottle of this at the nightclub.

At what point do alcohol prices go from “tantalizingly expensive” to just ridiculous? That’s the question at the heart of D’Amalfi Limoncello Supreme. Limoncello is a very popular lemon liqueur from Italy, and this one made by D’Amalfi is the most expensive alcohol in the world. Only two, yes, two, bottles were ever made. One went to a private citizen who personally commissioned the sale, and the other can be purchased for the low low price of $44 million. That price is largely attributed to the bottle, which is adorned with four separate diamonds totaling 31.5 carats.